Vehicles are being developed that reduce or completely eliminate reliance on internal combustion engines, with a goal of reducing or eliminating automotive fuel consumption and emissions. Electrified vehicles are one type of vehicle currently being developed for this purpose. In general, electric vehicles differ from conventional motor vehicles because they are selectively driven by one or more battery powered electric machines. Conventional motor vehicles, by contrast, rely exclusively on the internal combustion engine to drive the vehicle.
A high voltage battery pack typically partially or fully powers the electric machines and other electrical loads of the electric vehicle. The battery pack includes a plurality of battery cells that must be periodically recharged to replenish the energy necessary to power these loads. As is known, during operations such as charging and discharging the battery cells generate heat which must be managed. Thus, there is a need for innovative battery thermal management systems to manage the heat generated by the battery cells.
To address these and other issues, the present disclosure describes an electric vehicle cooling system utilizing excess cooling capacity generated by the vehicle air conditioning (A/C) system, and describes also a related method for battery thermal management in an electric vehicle.